One off found at work, figured it was worth a go. I’m still recovering from my confused reaction to Cantaloupe Bai Mu Dan, so figured apple cinnamon was worth a shot. As soon as it started steeping bright pink/red, I suspected there was hibiscus involved. I checked, of course there is! I don’t mind it, luckily, but i will need to be careful not to oversteep.

This has the artificial checmical apple taste I so loathe in bagged apple teas, and puts me in mind of Celestial Seasonings Apple Cinnamon (I hate it) mixed with one of their zingers (not that bad). This tea is a bit of a blah. I wonder what it might be like without hibiscus, as that is my dominant taste right now, but I get the apple in there too. This cup doesn’t seem to be undrinkable, but it’s definitely not good.

Preparation

Okay, first impressions: The dry tea definitely smells like cantaloupe, but the smell is a bit off somehow. I presume that it’s the difference between fresh and dried cantaloupe. Steeping it in my usual imperfect office situation leaves me a little leery but I didn’t have time for a tea this morning and I need something – Figured I’d go for another of my new 52Teas. After my issue with the Peach Cobbler last night, I’m looking for another solid tea.

It’s steeping up a pale yellow liquor, as whites are wont to do. I always have an issue in believing that the tea is properly steeped when the liquor is so pale. Honestly, the little weirdness in the smell is making me nervous. Sort of like cantaloupe that needs to riped some more, when you eat it under-ripe and too close to the peel.

Luckily, the taste is actually quite nice. if I can get over my weird smell aversion, this will be a lovely refreshing cantaloupe cuppa to enjoy occasionally. Certainly not an every day tea, but good for occasions. Would probably be delicious iced. And maybe with some liquor and/or fresh cantaloupe in it.

Poor cup – after my first few sips I forgot to take the leaves out and over steeped it. Still nice enough, luckily.

Preparation

I don’t know what I think of this tea. I definitely don’t think peaches. I definitely think green – I’m getting the grassiness that people so often speak of. I don’t know that I like it…Both in smell and in taste I haven’t got any peach hints. It smells sweet, but I get a serious vegetal taste, despite the sweetness. I think I might have to play with this one…

So far, all I can say is that it’s weird. Maybe I understeeped it? Maybe I should mix it with things. I’m a little sad. I’ll try again though!

Update – Bigger mouthfuls bring in something approximating peach, but then I’m left with the grassy after-taste. Which I don’t like. Maybe I should give up on green tea?

Mmm, exciting news is that a second cup has come out nicely – I saved the leaves for a third, but I think that will be pushing it a bit too far. I mostly get spice this time around, I can feel it on the back of my tongue. Still a lovely cuppa, but not the beautiful sense of vanilla and apple as in the first.

Preparation

My tea arrived! Of the 5 I ordered, I’ve decided to go for this one first, despite being at work and having no control over water temperature. It’s definitely not even close to boiling, so I figure I’m okay enough on temp. Dry, the tea smells really yummy – strong spice smell, definitely putting me in the mind of chai, but a hint of apple that makes me think of cider. A good start! My only qualm so far is how small the package is. I’m Canadian and oz isn’t a unit of measure I ever use so I kind of imagined it being more…I don’t know that I’ll get 20 to 25 cups of tea out of this as the package claims, but that’s irrelevant.

As it steeps, I realize that a T-Sac just isn’t going to provide enough room for the tea to expand. Again, for work and experimentation it is good enough, but the volume has already doubled and I wish I could see these leaves unfurl properly.

Finally, it’s time to sip! I keep smelling this, because there is some definite familiar smell, I think it reminds me of something my grandmother makes. Apple crumble, maybe? With vanilla ice cream on top…More spice smell than apple or vanilla, but the memories it conjure all seem to include apples and vanilla. Finally having tasted a sip, I think it evokes a nice hot cinnamony apple pie with vanilla ice cream melting on top. So good! I’ve been longing for a taste like this for too long. It’s really not hitting me in the face the way I expected it to by the smell, but it’s calming me, and a lovely absent-minded sort of deliciousness. I feel the need to have this on a regular basis. Absolutely. A wonderful start to my 52Teas experience, thank you Frank! I’m saving the T-Sac to give it another steep later on, we’ll see how well it holds up to that. The mildness of the flavour suggests it might not work, but I’ve been surprised before!

ps – Why did I only order 1 pouch when 2 would have been so cheap? Gah!

Smooth smooth smooth. I felt the urge to prove the beau wrong, as he thinks it’s too gingery. I steeped it for 3 minutes or so and make him try it – it was lemony water with a bit of ginger at the end.

Preparation

My heart is breaking – Somehow, out of nowhere, this tea has become one of my favourites. I honestly considered not having a cup right now because I wouldn’t be able to squeeze in my other two customary steeps and I didn’t want to waste them (then I realized I could steep the bag again tomorrow, huzzah!). Anyway, it is excellent that I love this tea, because I have 3/4 of a tin of it. It is devastating that I love this tea because it was apparently a summer only tea and isn’t available anymore. Not to mention that it might not ever be again. I can see myself now in 6 months, begging the lovely ladies at David’s Tea to find a long hidden stash. My best hope, other than the tea coming back into circulation permanently, is that I will fall out of love with it and I will be able to move on. Until then, I drink happily, but sparingly. Three steeps per ‘serving’ – this will help it last : )

Preparation

My mom gave me a summer collection kit from the sample sale for Christmas. I’m liking them all but have been hesitant to open the Mojito as, while the description sounds tasty, I pretty much dislike mint teas across the board. I’d rather it have a good home than me dislike it, so if you’d like another 25g of it I’d be happy to send it to you!

I thought I hadn’t opened it but unfortunately it looks like I went on a sniffing spree and opened them all. That was about two weeks ago for a quick sniff. If you’re interested, let me know.

That would be amazing!! I still have plenty for now, but I’ve got a bit of a hoarding approach regarding teas I enjoy. Stupid question – this DT sample sale that I heard about repeatedly but never experienced – Does this only happen in TO or was it nation-wide? How did I miss it??

It was nation-wide, but it was in-store only and over three days I think. It was also pretty small-scale. My store only had a little table of gift tins and summer stuff that they had to point out to me. I saw it on Facebook and don’t even know if there was an email about it, so it’d be pretty easy to miss.

Got the hottest water my office can offer. I wish I had the time to boil water here, but as the receptionist it just isn’t viable. I continue to love this tea – it starts out by enticing you with a delicious black currant aroma, but then tricks you with it’s dull brown liquor. Expectations rise once again with the first sip, and the tea remains satisfying to the end. Yum yum!

Preparation

This cup is really lacking the fruit flavour I remember getting last time. There is still the Kool-Aid sort of taste that hits you right away in the sip, but there aren’t any berries following suit – Perhaps I under steeped it?

Preparation

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Bio

Well, this needed refreshing. I have been drinking loose leaf for many years, and have fairly well nailed down my tastes. I love Chinese blacks and some other unflavoured teas. I occasionally drink flavoured teas, or herbals, but the bulk of my tea is unflavoured with no additives. I stock regularly from Teavivre with the occasional Verdant purchase and the odd re-stock at Davids. I love mint, am learning about the wide world of puerh, and prefer ripe to raw, so far. I don’t like green or green oolongs very much, white is okay and roasted oolongs are pretty good. Coconut and chamomile are awful, and I wish they weren’t in so many blends!

At home, I live with my husband and cat in a house built by my grandfather, which we love. We share many interests – books, tea, video games, board games, tv/movies. On top of that, I love crosswords and recently took up knitting again, so I’m having a hard time balancing all my passions at the moment. I’m a big fan of Doctor Who, as is my entire immediate family. I love spreading the Who love!

We also spend a lot of time with family, when we can. I’ve got a gaggle of younger brothers, and we like to spend time with them. The wonders of the internet allow us to spend time together even though some of them live a few hours away.

As for ratings, I try to only log teas once or twice because I drink a lot of the same ones repeatedly. My rating is based on my perception of the tea at first tasting and is adjusted if anything notable occurs in subsequent cups. I may also factor in the price and customer service but try to note that when I can.

81 – 100: These are great teas, I love them, regularly stock them or savour them as unique treats.71 – 80: These are solid. I drink them, I like them, I may or may not keep them on hand regularly. This is still good stuff.61 – 70: Just okay. I can drink it, but it doesn’t stand out to me. Might be lower quality, not to my taste, or outside my comfort zone. 41 – 60: Not likely to keep drinking…hoping hubby will enjoy!0 – 40: No thank you, please. Take it away and don’t make me finish the cup.